Angel Eclipsed (The Louisiangel Series Book 2) Read Free

my legs turned to jelly, and I crashed down on the sodden dirt.
    I’d like to say I lost track of time and didn’t know how long I’d been sitting there, but I’d be lying. Time and time again, I replayed those last minutes of Paige’s life. How Lilah, the one who had earned her wings before me, the supposed archangel , had her hands wrapped around Joshua’s throat, choking the life from him. How the thought of him dying combined with the injuries I had sustained had left me unable to move until I had begged God for help. How I had taken her sword and thrust it so hard through her back it had stuck out of the center of her chest. How, finally, she’d laughed at me, explaining that she would never have been able to kill Joshua otherwise her crazy plan would never have worked.
    My troubled thoughts distracted me long enough that the internal LoJack I have on Joshua didn’t flare into life until a sensation I hadn’t felt in weeks coursed through me. It took me a moment to work out it wasn’t me hurting. I sat bolt upright, blinking in the rain, virtually unfelt on my soaked skin. Not so long ago, I had to rely on my gut instinct to locate Joshua. Now, I could narrow him down like he was on Google Maps, only it was like the roads hadn’t been downloaded to my brain. Currently, he was just over three miles east of my current location, and more importantly, he was in pain.
    I didn’t hesitate any longer, getting to my feet and running. I was by no means as fast as The Flash, but just over six minutes later, I was outside the house I knew he was in, and I didn’t care if anybody had seen me. Thankfully, it was just after ten and though I’d barely registered the fact I had probably passed a dozen people, my priority was Joshua.
    I paused outside, staring up at my destination, certain that the LoJack was on the fritz. I was in the middle of the Lower Ninth Ward. Although Joshua was a detective with NOPD, his district didn’t cover this far out. As he was on his probationary period, he was mainly restricted to the French Quarter, unless of course, the case he was working required him to visit other areas. This location left me mystified. There were some areas in New Orleans that had been decimated when Katrina hit. The section of the street behind me had already had the houses cleared, leaving vacant plots behind. I was in front of a house which had long since been abandoned. “What are you doing here?” I muttered to the deserted street.
    The front door was hammered shut and I had to go around the side, following a path which had been cut into the overgrown garden by many pairs of feet. The inside, although sheltered from the rain, was wet. The far side of the room, which had once been a kitchen, was missing a chunk of the ceiling and water was pouring in. I let my eyes adjust to the darkness. There was, of course, no electricity in the house. The little light that was available was coming from the streetlights outside.
    I moved into the hallway, and nearly ran back out onto the street. I’d just walked the streets of New Orleans without shoes on, yet walking across a carpet which not only smelt moldy, but also squelched under my feet, turned my stomach. It was only Joshua’s strained voice that pushed me forward. “You’re about two minutes away from making a mistake you can’t come back from.”
    I hurried down the hall, finally bursting into what turned out to be the bathroom. It was a little brighter in here, thanks to the streetlight which seemed to be placed outside the small, broken bathroom window allowing the light to shine through the wooden slats which had been hammered over it. The first thing I spotted was the hideously filthy bathtub, followed by Joshua sitting on the floor between the tub and an equally disgusting toilet bowl.
    My eyes immediately darted to the blood on his forehead, dropping lower to his dark blue eyes staring back at me. He didn’t look pleased to see me. In fact he looked